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The Brothers of Destruction
The Brothers of Destruction are a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of storyline brothers, The Undertaker and Kane. They have teamed together (on and off) since 1998, winning three tag team championships (two WWF Tag Team Championships and one WCW Tag Team Championship). Between 2000 and 2011 they would regularly team up with The Brothers more so James Harrison. History Backstory and Kane's debut (1997–98) After The Undertaker won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13, Paul Bearer attempted to reunite with him the following night on Raw is War, the two having been engaged in a long period of mutual hostility ever since Bearer's Summer Slam 96' betrayal of The Undertaker. When the Undertaker rejected his attempt at a reunion, Bearer along with his then-protege and arch-enemy of the Undertaker, Mankind, launched a fireball into the face of The Undertaker. This culminated at April's In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker event when The Undertaker returned the favor, launching a fireball of his own into the face of his former manager, who had unsuccessfully attempted to assist Mankind to victory in their WWF Championship match. On the May 12 episode of Raw, Foley reintroduced Bearer, whose face was heavily bandaged due to the burns The Undertaker had inflicted upon him. Bearer again made efforts to get Undertaker to be his protege, this time around, however, threatening the exposure of a fire-related secret, The Undertaker's "deepest, darkest secret." During the cryptic interview, Bearer likened the fire that had burned his face at "Revenge of the Taker" to a fire that had occurred during The Undertaker's childhood (the secret). The secret in question suggested that Bearer had a traumatic past with The Undertaker, long preceding Brother Love's joining the two as manager and protege in January 1991. The secret was as follows: The Undertaker's mother had an affair with Bearer and as a result, gave birth to a younger half-brother of The Undertaker, named Kane. (It's important to note that while growing up, Undertaker {and presumably his deceased father} lived the vast majority of his life {entirety of the father's life} under the belief that Kane was fully related to him and his family; that is, until Bearer unintentionally {kayfabe} revealed to a Raw audience that he was actually Kane's father, this as a result of an affair Bearer had with their mother and thus making Kane and Undertaker half-brothers). This came to light when Bearer informed Jerry Lawler on Monday Night Raw, at a point in which he thought cameras had stopped rolling for a commercial but were still on. Growing up, Undertaker lived in a funeral home with his family. According to the secret, The Undertaker committed arson/murder, burning down the family funeral home, in the process, killing his parents and scarring his half-brother's face. Bearer, who survived the fire, hid Kane in a mental asylum during the rest of Kane's youth into adulthood. In the meantime, Bearer went on to form an alliance with The Undertaker while in the World Wrestling Federation, standing by his side for six years before eventually betraying him at SummerSlam 96'. After suffering mistreatment at the hands of Undertaker, who had long been vindictive and embittered over the SummerSlam 96' betrayal, Bearer opted to exact his own vengeance upon the Undertaker with the ultimatum of revealing his biggest secret. Feeling he had no choice, The Undertaker eventually obliged Bearer. While "managing" Undertaker this time around, Bearer became a tyrant, harassing and nagging at Undertaker constantly. At numerous points in which Undertaker attempted to take attitude, disobey, or even defend himself, Bearer would subjugate him by threatening exposure of the secret. Eventually however, Undertaker lost his patience and refused to allow Bearer to manage him any longer, leading to Bearer's exposure of the secret. At the time, Undertaker denied charges of committing the arson/murder, claiming his younger half-brother, a pyromaniac, was the culprit and due to the incident couldn't possibly even be alive (it's important to note that approximately a year and a half later from this point, during the latter part of 1998, Undertaker exposes himself as dishonest by shamelessly confessing to committing the arson/murder, shortly prior to his 1999 heel shtick as the dark priest of The Ministry of Darkness). Bearer accused The Undertaker of not only being a "murderer", but a "liar" while The Undertaker denied the charges. The Undertaker thought his younger half-brother, Bearer's illegitimate son, had been dead for years, that is, until Bearer introduced Kane at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, 1997, costing The Undertaker the victory in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match against Shawn Michaels. In keeping with the notion that Kane had been scarred by the fire—and to conceal Jacobs' identity—the character wore a mask, sported long hair, and wore red and black ring attire that almost covered his entire body. Kane wanted to take out all of his pent-up and vindictive aggression out on his "brother", but Undertaker refused to fight his own "flesh and blood". Kane attacked and embarrassed The Undertaker on several occasions, but Undertaker still refused to fight. After Kane surprisingly saved Undertaker from an attack by D-Generation X (DX), the duo had a brief partnership which ended after Kane betrayed Undertaker by costing Undertaker a casket match against WWF Champion Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship at Royal Rumble 1998. He chokeslammed Undertaker into the casket, which helped in Michaels getting the win. After the match, Kane and Paul Bearer locked Undertaker in the casket and set it ablaze. The two continued to feud and Undertaker returned later on an episode of Raw is War and changed his mind, and agreed to fight Kane. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIV, which Undertaker won after hitting him with three tombstone piledrivers. They met each other in the first-ever Inferno match at Unforgiven: In Your House, which again Undertaker won by burning his brother. On June 1, 1998 episode of Raw is War, they wrestled in a number one contender's match for the WWF Championship, which Kane won with help from Mankind. On the June 8 episode of Raw Is War, Kane and Mankind attacked WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. On the following episode of Raw is War, Austin blamed Mr. McMahon for setting up the attack; McMahon denied it and blamed the attack on The Undertaker, who denied setting up the attack and teamed up with Steve Austin to face Kane and Mankind in the first ever tag team Hell in a Cell match, which ended in no contest as the referee failed to restore order in the match. At King of the Ring 1998, Kane and Austin faced each other in a First Blood match for Austin's WWF Championship. The stipulation was that if Kane lost, he would set himself on fire. The referee was knocked out and Undertaker interfered in the match with a steel chair and came to hit Kane with the chair, but accidentally nailed Austin with the chair, which helped Kane to win the championship. Undertaker formed a partnership with Kane after he later revealed that he attacked Austin because he didn't want his "brother" to be burned. Undertaker started a rivalry with Steve Austin, who later regained the WWF title from Kane while Kane and Mankind won the WWF Tag Team Championship. At Fully Loaded: In Your House, the duo were forced to team up together and defeat Kane and Mankind to win the titles. Initial Association (1998–2000) They dropped the titles back to Kane and Mankind in a fatal-four way tag team elimination match, also involving The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) and Nation of Domination (The Rock and Owen Hart) on an episode of Raw is War in August. This move occurred after they couldn't patch up with each other, which led to a title match at SummerSlam, with Undertaker facing Austin for the WWF title. At that event, he and Kane became a team known as the "Brothers of Destruction" after Kane abandoned Mankind during their tag team title defense against New Age Outlaws and instead interfered in the Undertaker versus Stone Cold Steve Austin match when he tried to help his "brother", but Undertaker sent him back. As a result, Austin nailed the Stone Cold Stunner for a victory. At Breakdown: In Your House, Undertaker, Kane and Austin faced each other in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF title; Undertaker and Kane could only pin Austin so they pinned Austin at the same time. Vince McMahon vacated the title since there was no clear winner, and scolded Kane and Undertaker for letting Austin attack him. At Judgment Day: In Your House, Kane and Undertaker faced each other for the vacant title with Austin as the special referee; Undertaker turned heel during the match as he betrayed Kane for Paul Bearer, thus turning Kane in to a tweener. The match ended in a no contest as Austin attacked both men and declared himself the winner. Shortly after, Undertaker admitted to setting the fire that scarred Kane's face when they were children and their feud continued when Undertaker faced Austin at Rock Bottom: In Your House in a Buried Alive match; during the match, Kane interfered and attacked Undertaker and helped Austin get the win. They separated from each other and went on their own. In early 1999, with Kane now a member of The Corporation and Undertaker now the leader of the Ministry of Darkness, they faced each other in their second Inferno match, which Undertaker once again won. In the summer of 1999, The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness was beginning to fade away, while Kane was in a tag team with X-Pac, whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice with. The Undertaker attempted to reunite the team, but Kane made the ultimate decision to remain in his team with X-Pac when he found out Undertaker was only using him. Shortly after that Undertaker would form The Unholy Alliance with Big Show, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice with, to feud with Kane and X-Pac. The Undertaker eventually was injured in the fall of 1999, with Kane going his own way again. They reunited again in the summer of 2000 (it should be noted that at this time, Undertaker had taken on the "American Badass" biker persona instead of the satanic character he had portrayed previously), and challenged Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian for the tag titles on an episode of Raw is War, but they were disqualified, so they didn't win the titles. On August 14 episode of Raw is War, Undertaker faced Chris Benoit in a match, where Kane turned on Undertaker by chokeslamming him through the ring, and the two feuded with each other again. This culminated in a match at SummerSlam, which resulted in a no contest when Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring. Tag team division dominance (2001) At Royal Rumble in 2001, Undertaker and Kane teamed up eliminating most of the field in the Royal Rumble match. Kane entered number 6 and finished second eliminating 11 wrestlers. Undertaker came in at number 25 and came sixth after being eliminated by Rikishi. The two reunited later that same month and on February 1, 2001 episode of SmackDown!, they defeated Rikishi and Haku in a First Blood match. They got a shot at the tag titles at No Way Out, facing the champions The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and Edge and Christian in a tables match, but lost when Rikishi and Haku interfered. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Kane defeated Raven and Big Show to win the WWF Hardcore Championship and The Undertaker defeated Triple H. The Undertaker and Kane started focusing on then Intercontinental Champion Triple H, who would soon make a surprise alliance with WWF Champion Steve Austin known as Two-Man Power Trip. They were granted an opportunity to face Steve Austin and Triple H at Backlash, if they could defeat Edge and Christian in a no-disqualification match for the titles. On April 19 episode of SmackDown!, Undertaker and Kane defeated Edge and Christian to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship as a team, despite interference from Austin and Triple H. As a result of winning the titles, Brothers of Destruction earned the right to face Steve Austin and Triple H. At Backlash, all major titles were on the line but despite that, Triple H pinned Kane after using a sledgehammer, thus making him and Austin the new WWF Tag Team Champions as well as the WWF Champion (for Austin) and the WWF Intercontinental Champion (for Triple H). With Kane injured, The Undertaker began targeting Steve Austin and his WWF Championship. On an episode of Raw is War, Undertaker was told by police officers that his wife Sara had been involved in a car accident; The Undertaker arrived home, only to find out that it was all a set-up by Austin. At Judgment Day 2001, Kane defeated Triple H to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a chain match, despite interference from Steve Austin. Later that night, Triple H interfered in the Undertaker's WWF Championship match, using his sledgehammer, allowing Austin to pin The Undertaker and retain his championship. Diamond Dallas Page was the next person to get in Undertaker's way; Page wanted to become a big star, just like the Undertaker, and so he started a feud with him, taking The Undertaker's slogan, "I'll make you famous" quite figuratively as the basis of this feud involved Page stalking Undertaker's wife Sara. On the August 9 episode of SmackDown!, they defeated The Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire) to win the WCW Tag Team Championship. At SummerSlam 2001, The Undertaker and Kane defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon in a steel cage match to win their second WWF Tag Team Championship and retain the WCW Tag Team Championship, thus briefly unifying the two titles. Brothers of Destruction began a feud with KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark), who were brought to WWF by Stevie Richards. On September 17 episode of Raw is War, Kane and Undertaker lost the WWF tag titles to The Dudley Boyz after KroniK interfered. At Unforgiven, they successfully defended their titles against KroniK before losing them to Booker T and Test on the following episode of SmackDown!.They continued on as a team representing the WWF side through onto the end of the Alliance Invasion angle, including their participation at InVasion and Survivor Series after which The Undertaker immediately turned heel once more and the two did not interact with each other for a long while. Sporadic encounters (2002–2005) The duo first appeared together in 2002's WWE draft, standing right next to each other when Undertaker was drafted to Raw. The duo next appeared together during the first few moments of No Mercy as they both had title matches that night. They next teamed up again unofficially at the Royal Rumble in 2003, but Undertaker turned on Kane during the Royal Rumble match and eliminated him. Later that year at the Survivor Series, an unmasked and heel Kane interfered in the Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and Mr. McMahon, costing Undertaker the match. Kane would go on to say that Undertaker was buried forever. The two would end the feud with a match at WrestleMania XX in 2004, in which The Undertaker returned to his "Deadman" character, and defeated his half-brother Kane. The brothers had a short run-in with each other in 2005; at the Royal Rumble, Undertaker was in a scheduled match against then-heel Heidenreich in a casket match. Before the match, Gene Snitsky, who was in a feud with the face gimmick Kane, told Heidenreich he would help him that night. Due to the interference, Heidenreich was positioned to win. However, when the casket was asked to be opened, Kane emerged from the casket and battled Snitsky out of the arena, letting Undertaker defeat Heidenreich. Original plans were for this to lead to a tag team match at WrestleMania 21, but the plans were scrapped when The Undertaker instead decided to take on Randy Orton. They did team up during house shows taking on Snitsky and Heidenreich. The last time Kane and the Undertaker would meet in 2005 was during an interpromotional match where neither of the men were involved. While Kane, who was helping his partner Big Show against Rey Mysterio, pretended to leave when Undertaker entered the arena, he would inevitably receive a chokeslam from Undertaker after a failed sneak attack. Notably, both brothers were faces at the time, however Kane was a member of the Raw brand and Undertaker was a member of the SmackDown brand. Because the match was held on SmackDown ''(and the ''SmackDown brand was portrayed more favorably in that year's brand warfare storyline), Kane and Big Show were portrayed as tweeners without ever officially turning in that direction. Reunions and discord (2006–2010) The return of the Brothers of Destruction was announced on October 27, 2006 episode of SmackDown!. Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) interfered with Kane's match against Mr. Kennedy, helping Kennedy beat down on him before the lights went out and the Undertaker's music came on. When the lights came back on Kane was gone, nowhere to be found. As a result of the interference, General Manager Theodore Long scheduled a tag team match: The Brothers of Destruction vs. Kennedy and MVP. The next week on SmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time as a tag team in five years and gathered three wins over MVP and Mr Kennedy in that one night. The first win was made by countout when MVP and Mr. Kennedy refused to re-enter the ring, at which point General Manager Theodore Long came out and restarted the match with no countouts. Kennedy then delivered a blatant low blow to Kane in front of the referee, getting disqualified. Long came out again, and restarted the match with no disqualifications or countouts. Finally, the brothers hit simultaneous chokeslams, and Undertaker finished with a Tombstone Piledriver ''to Mr. Kennedy. The brothers continued to feud with their individual opponents before reuniting for a rematch on the last ''SmackDown! before Armageddon. This time, the match would go to a double disqualification as Kennedy threatened to run over Kane with a hearse parked ringside. The Undertaker, who had run off MVP, emerged in the passenger seat as his gong tolled and the lights went out, thus scaring Kennedy out of the vehicle. At Armageddon, Undertaker defeated Kennedy in a Last Ride match, which was why the hearse had been at ringside for the last two weeks, and Kane defeated MVP in an inferno match. The next week on SmackDown!, the Brothers would reunite once again, defeating King Booker and Finlay, before parting ways as Undertaker successfully pursued the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 23. On October 12, 2007 episode of'' SmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2007, defeating then WWE Tag Team Champions MVP and Matt Hardy in a non-title match. The Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2008 on the February 1, 2008 episode of ''SmackDown, defeating Big Daddy V and Mark Henry by submission. At WrestleMania XXIV, both brothers became world champions: Kane winning the ECW Championship, and Undertaker winning the World Heavyweight Championship. On the April 4, 2008 episode of SmackDown, Undertaker and Kane faced each other for the first time since WrestleMania XX. The match finished with no decision as "La Familia" (Edge, Chavo Guerrero, and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder) interfered. In tandem, however, Kane and Undertaker delivered a Chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver to Chavo and Edge respectively. The Brothers of Destruction also made an appearance when ECW traveled to London, England on April 15, 2008, facing then WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz who also fell victim to tandem chokeslams. On the April 21, 2008 episode of Raw, the Brothers of Destruction teamed with John Cena and Triple H to take on the team of John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Chavo Guerrero, and the one night only reunion of Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) in a losing effort, after Edge hit Kane with a spear. On the November 13, 2009 episode of SmackDown, after his match with Chris Jericho which was ended after interference from Jericho's partner Big Show, Kane came to the aid of his "brother" to chase off "Jeri-Show". The Brothers of Destruction would reunite on the November 20 episode to face the Jeri-Show, but the match ended in no contest, and Jericho subsequently fled the ring during the match after pilfering the Undertaker's championship belt. On the June 4 episode of'' SmackDown'', SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long announced that The Undertaker was found in a vegetative state by Kane, who vowed to find out the identity of Undertaker's attacker, and for weeks he accused and interrogated other superstars. At Money in the Bank, Kane won the Money in the Bank ladder match to win a World Heavyweight Championship title shot any time, anywhere. Later that night, Kane chased off one of The Undertaker's potential attackers, Jack Swagger, who was attacking Rey Mysterio. Kane then returned to successfully cash in his Money in the Bank contract to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Kane would then claim that Rey Mysterio was The Undertaker's attacker, although Mysterio denied it. At SummerSlam, Kane defended his championship against Mysterio, during which The Undertaker returned to confront Kane and Rey Mysterio. Undertaker, however, was tombstoned by Kane, who was revealed to be the Undertaker's attacker all along. This resulted in a feud between the two. Kane and Undertaker met at Night of Champions, which Undertaker lost. With Kane seeming to have grown stronger than his older "brother", The Undertaker was boosted by the return of his former manager, and Kane's father, Paul Bearer (who hadn't been seen for many years, since June 2004 when The Undertaker betrayed him by drowning him in a crypt of cement). With Bearer by The Undertaker's side like old times, the two squared off again at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Paul Bearer, however, betrayed The Undertaker by blinding him with the urn, allowing Kane to chokeslam him for the victory. The feud culminated with a Buried Alive match at Bragging Rights, in which The Undertaker lost again due to interference by The Nexus, allowing Kane to bury the Undertaker alive, possibly evening a longtime score for The Undertaker's initial ablaze of his brother as children. After the event, The Undertaker went just to appear on WWE, but only sporadically. Kane continued to be World Heavyweight Champion, until he lost his title to Edge at TLC. During this feud, he was seemingly making failed attempts at defending his father from Edge; though in April 2012, Bearer returned for a brief stint as a part of Kane's ongoing feud with Randy Orton. Bearer was kidnapped by Orton and then stuck in a storage freezer while strapped to a wheelchair. Kane later came for Bearer, only to betray him by rolling him back into the freezer while stating, "I'm saving you... from me". Occasional alliances (2012–2013) On July 23, 2012 during Raw 1000, the Brothers of Destruction reunited against Jinder Mahal, Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks, Hunico, Camacho and Drew McIntyre when they were planning to attack Kane. This led to the return of The Undertaker, who assisted Kane in fighting off the six attackers (hinting that he forgave Kane for his betrayal). They cleared the ring before delivering simultaneous chokeslams and tombstone piledrivers to Hawkins and Hunico, after which they did their signature pose. The Undertaker and Kane were once again reunited on the March 11, 2013 episode of Raw following the real-life death of Paul Bearer. As Undertaker was attempting to pay tribute to Bearer, he was interrupted by his WrestleMania 29 opponent, CM Punk. This caused an irate Kane to attack Punk, leading to a match between the two later in the night, which Kane won thanks to interference from The Undertaker and the two then once again tried to pay tribute to Bearer only to be interrupted again by Punk, who attacked Kane with Bearer's urn and then left the arena with it. At WrestleMania, both Undertaker and Kane were victorious, extending The Streak to 21–0 and retaining the Tag Team Championship respectively. The Brothers of Destruction reunited once again the night following WrestleMania 29 on the April 8, 2013, episode of Raw, when Kane and his Team Hell No tag partner Daniel Bryan rushed to Undertaker's aid as he was about to be attacked by The Shield. Two weeks later on the April 22 episode of Raw, there was a six-man tag match between The Brothers of Destruction/Team Hell No (Undertaker, Kane and Daniel Bryan) vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns), which The Shield won, able to separate Bryan from his teammates. Rivalry with The Wyatt Family (2015) On October 16, 17 and 18 at house shows in Mérida and Monterrey, Mexico, The Brothers of Destruction reunited to take on Luke Harper and Braun Strowman of The Wyatt Family in a tag team match, which they won after Harper tapped out to The Undertaker's Hell's Gate. At Hell in a Cell, The Wyatt Family attacked The Undertaker after his Hell in a Cell match with Brock Lesnar, ultimately carrying Undertaker to the back after beating him down. The following night on Raw, after Bray Wyatt explained his actions, Kane came out to exact revenge, but he was attacked and abducted by The Wyatt Family as well. On the November 9 episode of Raw, after Bray Wyatt claimed to have taken their souls, The Brothers of Destruction returned and attacked The Wyatt Family, setting up a match at Survivor Series. The Undertaker's body of dark angels, dubbed "The Druids", returned on the November 16 edition of Raw, but Wyatt would take control of them and have them turn against The Brothers of Destruction. Wyatt would then reveal that the match would be a 4-on-4 elimination match before The Brothers (James and Matthew Harrison) emerged attacking The Wyatts. The Brothers won the match with Undertaker the sole survivor. In Wrestling *'Finishing moves' **Chokeslam **''Tombstone Piledriver'' (Kneeling reverse piledriver) *'Double-team finishing moves' **Double/simultaneous chokeslam **Simultaneous Tombstone Piledrivers **Spike Tombstone Piledriver – 1998 *'Managers' **Paul Bearer **Sara *'Nicknames' **"The True Army of Darkness" (both) **"The American-Bad ass" (Undertaker) **'"The Big Red Machine"' (Kane) **'"The (Big Red) Monster" '(Kane) **'"The Deadman"' (Undertaker) **'"The Demon of Death Valley"' (Undertaker) **'"The (Devil's Favorite) Demon"' (Kane) **'"The Phenom"' (Undertaker) *'Entrance themes' **"The Darkest Side" by Jim Johnston (August 24–October 5, 1998) **"Rollin'" ("Out of the Fire" Intro) by Limp Bizkit and Jim Johnston (February 2001–November 18, 2001) **"Rest in Peace" ("Man on Fire" Intro) by Jim Johnston (2009) **'"Rest in Peace"' by Jim Johnston **'"Veil of Fire"' by Jim Johnston (Kane's music in singles competition) Championships and Accomplishments *''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' **Manager of the Year (1998) – Paul Bearer *'World Wrestling Federation' **WWF/E (World Heavyweight) Championship (5 times) – The Undertaker (4) and Kane (1) **World Heavyweight Championship (4 times) – The Undertaker (3) and Kane (1) **ECW Championship (1 time) – Kane **WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times) – Kane **WWF Hardcore Championship (2 times) – The Undertaker (1) and Kane (1) **WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) **WCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) *''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' **Worst Worked Match of the Year (2001) vs. KroniK at Unforgiven